Jiang Siji spent half an hour teaching Helan Pei, commenting on the previously assigned homework, and then explaining a difficult classical text she had prepared for today.
After teaching for nearly an hour, she herself was a bit tired. She walked over to the stove by the window, sat down, and skillfully began to brew tea.
Helan Pei followed her and sat down by the stove; this was their default break time.
Lu Shuo, however, wasn't sure if he could take a break until Jiang Siji exclaimed, "Still missing a cushion. Little Lu has no place to sit."
Helan Pei tapped the windowsill, and Zisu quickly appeared: "Miss?"
Helan Pei pointed to the empty space between herself and Jiang Siji, then pointed to the cushion she was sitting on.
Zisu slapped her forehead: "This servant will have another one brought immediately."
Soon, another cushion was brought, but it didn't have the same apricot-pink cotton lining as theirs.
Jiang Siji laughed: "There's no extra one of those. I sewed them myself when I had nothing to do before. I can't do such fine needlework anymore."
Lu Shuo quickly waved his hands: "I don't need one, I don't need one."
He obediently knelt on the cushion, listening to the sound of water in the kettle, not knowing what to do.
Jiang Siji asked: "Little Lu, what games did you play with other children back home?"
"N-nothing much... just running around."
"Are there any games that don't require running around, are quiet, and can be played at home?" Jiang Siji said. "You see, little Pei'er is bored at home alone. If you two children can find some games to play, it would pass the time."
Helan Pei glanced at Lu Shuo, and Lu Shuo glanced at Helan Pei.
Helan Pei felt lazy and didn't want to get up to write. Lu Shuo, seeing her not moving, thought she didn't want to tell Jiang Siji about their Chupu game yesterday, so he didn't mention it either, just following Jiang Siji's lead: "There are some, but I think Miss might find them boring."
Jiang Siji: "First, tell me about them."
Lu Shuo thought for a moment and then mentioned one.
When he was in the countryside, he used to play a game called "Pushing the Jujube Mill" with other children. Take three jujubes, cut one in half, remove half the pulp to expose the sharp pit, insert three short wooden sticks into this jujube and stand it on the ground with the pit tip facing up. Thread the other two jujubes onto a long wooden stick, one on each end. Place the long stick on the pit tip, and gently push it to see who could make the long stick spin steadily on the pit without falling off. The one who succeeded won.
Jiang Siji clapped her hands: "This is simple, quick, and easy to make. How about we play for a while, then continue class? Little Pei'er, what do you think?"
Helan Pei thought, what's so fun about this? Country children would only play this because they didn't have fine toys like Chupu. But since she had nothing better to do, and Jiang Siji meant well, she might as well play.
So Jiang Siji had Zisu and Tianqing find some jujubes, wooden sticks, and a small knife.
Zisu was surprised: "What for?"
Jiang Siji: "To give the children some hands-on practice. They can't just study all day, can they?"
Zisu and Tianqing soon returned with the items. Seeing the three of them gathered around, pushing the tea kettle aside as if about to do handicrafts, Zisu asked doubtfully: "The knife is sharp. It won't cut Miss's hand, will it?"
Lu Shuo quickly interjected: "No, no. I'll do it."
He weighed the knife, picked up a jujube, skillfully cut around its middle, split the flesh, and with a tight grip, one half of the flesh came off, revealing the sharp pit inside.
Jiang Siji: "The sticks are a bit thick, aren't they?"
Lu Shuo: "Yes, they need to be shaved thinner."
This was probably the most adept thing he had done since entering the mansion. In no time, he had shaved several sticks thin and inserted them into the jujube.
Lu Shuo pushed the erected jujube pit stand to the center of the tea table and handed the long stick with the two jujubes to Helan Pei: "Miss, would you like to try?"
Helan Pei took it, observed the pit tip and the long stick in her hand for a moment, placed the center of the long stick on the pit tip, and slowly let go.
But as soon as she let go, the stick fell off.
Helan Pei frowned. She tried a few more times but still couldn't succeed. Her expression became serious. She set aside her disdain, placed the long stick on her fingertip to feel the weight of the two jujubes, then, avoiding any stickiness between her fingers and the stick, gently lifted the long stick with the nails of her index fingers and carefully placed it on the pit tip.
Once the long stick was stable, she held her breath and slowly withdrew her fingers. The three jujubes and several sticks remained motionless, forming a balanced scale.
Helan Pei smiled.
Jiang Siji said: "That pit tip is really hard to aim at. Did you know you almost went cross-eyed just now?"
What? She went cross-eyed?
Helan Pei's heart skipped a beat. A look of shame and annoyance appeared, and she instinctively glanced at Lu Shuo.
How could she lose her composure like this in front of an outsider!
Lu Shuo was stunned.
The Fourth Miss went cross-eyed just now? Did she? He hadn't noticed. He only thought her eyes were really big, wide and round, like the two black-filling dumplings his mother made.
"I'm teasing you. You didn't go cross-eyed," Jiang Siji laughed.
Helan Pei: "..."
"But you still didn't win," Jiang Siji said. "Little Lu said earlier that to win, you have to push the jujube on the long stick so that the stick spins around the pit without falling off."
Helan Pei swallowed, became serious again, slowly extended her finger, and gently pushed the jujube at one end of the long stick.
The stick slowly began to spin.
But just as Helan Pei's eyes lit up, with a clatter, the stick mercilessly fell onto the table.
Helan Pei's eyes widened, feeling a sense of absurdity at having failed just short of success.
She refused to accept it and tried again several times, but each time she failed at the final step of pushing it to spin.